Reckless Temptations (Tempted #4)(44)

Fuck my life.

Maria Bianci walked through the door holding the boy. Talk about déjà vu. All she was missing was her nifty little frying pan. I guess frying chicken cutlets wasn’t on the menu tonight. Adrianna and Kitten followed, and I moved to make my way toward them but stopped myself. Anthony stepped inside, holding the door open for the next two stragglers. Adrianna’s sister, Nikki and her boyfriend, Mike. It was a fucking party at the clubhouse.

For one fleeting second I looked at the Bianci family and felt a sense of relief. I hadn’t realized it, never wanted it, but these crazy sons a bitches had become my heart. I might detest some of them but they were mine to protect until I found what made me tick. Until I found my heart.

And they were here.

Safe and sound.

The whole crazy lot of them.

Plus a few extra.

My eyes locked with Lauren’s as I brought the beer to my lips and watched her turn her back to me.

Lovely.

I was too busy staring at Lauren’s ass to notice the door open again. At least her ass wasn’t mad at me.

Wolf slapped me upside the head, tearing me away from Kitten and reminding me I needed to keep my head. I rose to my feet and followed him as Jack stared back at us, a grim expression on his face and Lacey at his side.

Lacey, not Reina.

“Where’s Blackie?” Wolf asked.

“Gold has him and Reina,” Jack said.

They were five words, representing a declaration of war. I had heard the rumors, listened to the guys tell stories, of times passed, wars fought and won but I had never been a part of one. I had never been a fighting Knight, but I was ready. Saddle me up motherfucker and put me in the zone.

Maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t found my heart like Jack asked because there wasn’t anything stopping me from fighting for what was ours.

We moved to the Chapel, Anthony and Mike too, because when you’re down a brother and your woman’s at the mercy of a crazy fuck, you need all the help you can get. I might give these gangsters a lot of shit but they earned my respect the minute they put themselves in our corner, willing to abide by our code and fight for a brotherhood they weren’t even a part of.

Heart.

They had it in shitloads.

And they were still there.

Brothers not by blood but by choice.

The only type of brotherhood that was worth a damn.

“A couple of months ago Pastore asked me to take care of a problem he had. A Fed was sniffing around one of Jimmy Gold’s bodies and they wanted me to make the Fed disappear. The Fed was my brother, Danny, and this guy over here…” Jack explained, pointing to Bianci who was leaning against the wall. “…was about to help me save my brother’s life but we were too late. Jimmy killed Danny and set his house on fire. Reina, the woman I’ve been seeing was Danny’s girlfriend, and she was in the house with Danny when he let the house go up in flames.” He paused, making eye contact with each of us before he sighed and continued.

“I’ve been planning my revenge for months, figuring it was personal and so no need to bring it to the club. It’s not personal anymore. It’s not even about Danny anymore. Wolf, Pipe, you two have been around since Cain’s days, you guys remember the G-Man, right?”

Pipe nodded.

“Remember going to a lot of funerals at his hand,” he said.

“Yeah, well, long story short, Jimmy has been working with him since the days of Val.”

Val was Victor’s underboss and Mike’s old man. He was murdered, and this Gold character took his place. Jack continued his story, informing us that Jimmy was involved in Val’s death and every blow the Pastore’s had taken over the last few years had been premeditated. Jimmy was working with our nemesis, the G-Man, since Jack took the gavel.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Jack and Blackie cut a deal with Victor to set up Jimmy for all the shit he was responsible for. Val’s death, Jack’s brother’s death, the demise of Victor’s organization and the drugs polluting our streets. With Victor in jail and Jimmy running the show, the son of a bitch was going to run drugs through Vic’s territory. He needed a supplier, and Jack and Blackie had it set all up, they would be the ones to get him the heroin.

I wondered if Jack knew Blackie was dipping into that shit.

I pushed the thought aside and continued to listen to our president, trying to make sense of this mess and figure a way for us to get through it.

Their plan was to get Jimmy hooked on their product and when he needed more they would tell him only large quantities. Jimmy was in the market for a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of H—Jack had promised to deliver. They would set him up with the drugs and Victor Pastore would wait for him on the other side. But somewhere the plan went astray because it wasn’t even about the drugs anymore.

We had no fucking idea what he wanted or why he took Blackie and Reina.

We were riding blind.

Victor knew something, tried reaching out to Grace, and that’s why she was at the compound but we couldn’t get a hold of him either because he got his ass thrown in solitary.

Blind.

“I’m sorry this shit fell on our doorstep. I’m sorry I didn’t bring it to the table sooner. You can vote upon my poor judgement but not now, that will have to be done some other time because right now you have a choice to make. I’m going after Jimmy Gold, I will put him in the ground and I will plow through anyone who stands in my fucking way. You’re either with me or you’re not, but I got a brother to find and a woman to get back, and a cocksucking weasel to bury.” Jack said, fire in his eyes, determination in his soul.